1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flat mop head for cleaning floors comprising a cover plate which, on its upper face, is equipped with means for fastening to a holder and, in the middle of its lower face, with loops or fringes.
2. Discussion of Related Art
There are various known flat mop heads for cleaning floors. The present invention is concerned in particular with moist mop heads, i.e. mop heads suitable for the moist or wet cleaning of floors. Mop heads such as these have to meet a number of requirements. They are expected to take up the cleaning liquid quickly, to transport it to floors without dripping, to transfer it gradually to the floor and to take up the soiled cleaning liquid, so-called dirty water, equally quickly. In addition, they are expected to take up large amounts of solid soil particles, not to give off any fluff and to glide smoothly over the floor. The mop heads are periodically washed through at relatively high temperatures. Accordingly, they are expected to be washable. Finally, the mop heads should be inexpensive to manufacture.
The cleaning-active side, i.e. the underside of the cover plate, may be trimmed with fringes, loops, strips or strands consisting of viscose, cotton, synthetic fibers and blends thereof. The variety of flat mop heads is due to the number of different requirements which, as a rule, cannot be optimally satisfied at one and the same time. If the cleaning-active side, i.e. the underside of the cover plate, consists of fringes, the cleaning performance of the mop head may well be high, but is achieved at the expense of serious fluffing and poor gliding behavior. If mop heads with loops rather than fringes are used, gliding behavior improves and fluffing is reduced but unfortunately cleaning performance falls to an average level. If, on the other hand, the underside of the cover plate consists of a sponge or nonwoven material in the form of several strips arranged in rows alongside one another, hardly any fluff is given off and cleaning performance is very high. In this case, however, the poor gliding behavior is a disadvantage. A cover plate trimmed with strips of the type in question is described, for example, in DE 38 09 279 C1.
The type of fibres used for the underside of the cover plate also influences the cleaning result and the life of the mop heads. Although a high absorption level is achieved with viscose, this material is not suitable for frequent washing at relatively high temperatures. Although cotton is more stable to washing than viscose, it has average absorption. Particularly good stability to washing and hence a long useful life are achieved with an underside of the cover plate of synthetic fibres. Unfortunately, mop heads such as these have no absorption.
For these reasons, the mop head according to DE 32 26 947 A1 has proved to be particularly suitable in practice. It has two zones with different textiles. The middle part of the lower face of the cover plate contains loops of a mixture of synthetic fibers and cotton. They are intended to take up the dirty water with soil dissolved therein. In addition, an encircling textile border of fringes with open yarn ends, which also consist of a blend of synthetic fibers and cotton, is provided at the edges. The fringes are intended to take up soil particles during so-called figure-of-eight wiping where only one of the two longer sides of the rectangular mop head always leads. A further increase in cleaning performance and in useful life and a reduction in manufacturing costs would be advantageous.
3. Summary of the Invention
The technical problem addressed by the invention is to provide an inexpensive flat mop head which is suitable both for dry and for wet/moist cleaning and which, besides good gliding behavior, i.e. low friction on the floor, has a particularly high cleaning performance both for water-soluble soil and for solid soil coupled with a long useful life, i.e. high stability to washing.
According to the invention, this problem is solved by a flat mop head including fringes that are provided on both sides of the seam of an encircling fringe tape, the inner fringes being so short that, when they swell under the effect of moisture, they bend through substantially 90.degree. towards the surface being wiped and form a kind of brush border. A flat mop head such as this has the advantage that the brush border clearly enhances the cleaning effect through its brushing action. Normally, the removal of hairs from wet surfaces is a problem because hairs literally stick to wet surfaces. With the brush border according to the invention, hairs adhere very effectively to the flat mop head. The brush border also has the advantage of a positive influence on the gliding properties of the mop head.
The bending of the fringes caused by swelling under the effect of moisture is extremely effective with a fringe length of 2.5 to 30 mm, but is particularly effective with a fringe length of 5 to 20 mm. If the fringes consist of ring-spun yarn made from a blend of synthetic fibers and cotton, swelling is particularly intense. This applies in particular to a blend of about three quarters PES and about one quarter cotton. Under the effect of the intense swelling, the thread of the seam of the outer fringe tape is very firmly anchored in the seam. In particular, however, the bending effect of the short fringes is more pronounced, the more the fringe yarn swells. The ring-spun yarn with the described composition swells by 65%, for example, after five machine washes at 60.degree. C.
In one advantageous embodiment, the outer fringes are so long that they are able to move freely. This provides for the particularly effective uptake of soil and enables the outer fringe border to penetrate into corners and along skirting boards. In another advantageous embodiment, this length enables the outer fringes to lie particularly effectively on the surface being wiped. These properties can be achieved particularly favorably with a length of 20 to 100 mm. If the fringes have open yarn ends, they are particularly absorbent to soil.